Yes. I even remember a computer that was programmed using a plug panel. It was used to produce the program list for Channel 7 (I think) in Perth. At the time I was an exchange visit, staying with the family of the man responsible for programming it. Long out of date at the time it was kept in use on the basis of "if it ain't broke don't fix it".

which used paper tape for loading programs. I even remember playing the lunar landing game (1979). The project was on the "Mathematical evaluation of facial expressions", and paper later appeared in the British Journal of Psychiatry (1984).

In 1979 at Wentworth I had my first programming class, in Basic.PDP 11 was the machine I think. I was an architecture (buildings) student and we were not allowed to use the monitors. Those were reserved for the CS students, they only had 4. So I had to input my code on those teletype machines on paper, they had about 6 of those. When nobody was around I used a monitor and played that StarTrek game.

My brother went to a community college a few years later and they were doing Cobol on punch cards, lucky guy.

I used punch cards and tape at University. Debugging meant submitting your card deck at the computer centre, then coming back the next day to see what was on the printout. If it was an error message, rinse & repeat.

Before that in the mid 1970's whilst a teenager I saw a computer with a Drum memory. Betcha you don't even know what I'm talking about

I used punch cards and tape at University. Debugging meant submitting your card deck at the computer centre, then coming back the next day to see what was on the printout. If it was an error message, rinse & repeat.

Before that in the mid 1970's whilst a teenager I saw a computer with a Drum memory. Betcha you don't even know what I'm talking about

Yes you're right ... that's a different world to me. Sounds like a story from my parents I'm 17...

I thought this was a much yonger crowd (well except for Jeff ) nice to see a good mix of 'old' and 'new'

I'm 34. I've never used punch cards or paper tape... though I hear that the paper tape is better 'cause when you drop it on the floor you don't have to worry about putitng it in the right order when you pick it up

I first programmed on a Commodore PET back in the early 80's (grade 5), cassette tape was the storage medium.. it was slow. My first home computer was a Commodore 64, then I upgrade to Amiga, then eventually I got a job and they gave me a PC. I've never actually purchased an intel-based computer [turns head and spits], though I use them all the time.

I'm 34. I've never used punch cards or paper tape... though I hear that the paper tape is better 'cause when you drop it on the floor you don't have to worry about putitng it in the right order when you pick it up

The better card punch machines could be set to automatically put a sequence number in specified columns. Then if you dropped a deck, you just fed the cards into the automatic sorting machine. Paper tape was slower and more fragile than cards.The first computer I used (1973) was an IBM 1130:http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/1130/1130_intro.html

My first PC was a DOS box, not exactly ancient history really, although i do remember friends had a commodore 64 with a tape deck and yeah it was really slow.

whereas most people here came to java from lower level languages, i'm attempting to go the opposite direction... the first programming language i ever learned was Java, and although i would say i'm decent at it now, throw a C or C++ program my way and i'd probably break something... currently reading "C++ for Java Programmers".

I never had anything to do with punch cards, I guess I'm too young for that. My first computer was a Sinclair ZX-81 and I had to poke into BASIC REM statements to program assembly, because it could only load and save basic programs (not binaries)... Oh man, what a chore

I knew the program was somewhat experimental, but hadn't previously realised that it had resulted in published papers. This system used cards which you marked using a soft pencil instead of using a punch, thus avoiding the problem of sharing a limited number of punch machines amongst lots of students.

20 here! I played a bit on some old green screens in elementary school, and eventually go my first PC which was a Tandy. I learned how to manage Dos then eventually Win 3.1, but usually I wouldn't load Windows and stuck to a little Dos loader app to load my games

Well then... I'm just 16! My first gaming experience was on the NES, playing duck hunt. Damn that dog...

My first computer had Windows 95 on it, and I was acctually programming small C-Apps with it. (Think 'Hello World' and 'Console-Fireworks') I didn't get to have the joy of a command-line experience until I tryed out Linux. (Debian happens to be my favorite flavor, btw).

I feel young in this crowd...

Personally, you could strap me into a mech cockpit with 47 virtual HUD displays, two complex hand controls and foot pedals and I'd be grinning like the gamer freak I am.

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